


Nightmare 99

by Two_Guns_And_A_Knife



Category: Stephanie Plum - Janet Evanovich
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-10
Updated: 2012-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 20:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 36
Words: 5,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/482515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Two_Guns_And_A_Knife/pseuds/Two_Guns_And_A_Knife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not for the Cupcakes, really.  A series of most unfortunate and extremely unpleasant events happen here in the beautiful and peaceful city of Trenton, NJ. Theme Song: "It's A Sin" by Pet Shop Boys.  No Cuban Sex God is hurt during this story, BTW.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nacht 1: Look Back Upon My Fuck Up Life

**Nacht**   **1: Look Back Upon My Fuck Up Life**

He lies in the king size bed slowly bleeding to death.

He can't feel a thing.

His whole lower body is numb.

His dark handsome face has become pale and contorted.

He knows he should have expected this.

But somehow he never saw it coming.

Maybe he really is the King of Denial.

Or maybe he's just being stupid.

Softly he lets out a resigned silent sigh and closes his tired brown eyes.

Maybe this is the best ending for everyone in his fucked up life.


	2. Nacht 2: It's A Sin!

**Nacht 2: It's A Sin!**

He lies in the king size waterbed slowly bleeding to death.

Outside of the outrageously extravagantly decorated bedroom, the war wages on.

The red-haired devil and the blonde she-wolf roar and spit and hiss in their fierce attempts to pluck each other bald and poke each other blind.

Finally the neighbors can't take it anymore and dial 911.

By the time the cops and EMTs finally arrive, Joyce and Terry, code-named Red Velvet and Lemon Mascarpone on Joseph Morelli's Cupcake rack, are still

tangled in a mess of limbs and torn lingerie.

And Joe's days as the East Coast Italian Stallion have come to an end.


	3. Nacht 3: What Have I Done To Deserve This?

**Nacht 3: **What Have I Done To Deserve This**?**

The police officers finally break Joyce and Terry apart and cuff them both.

A crystal tear slides down Joe Morelli's cheek as the EMTs strap him to the stretcher with steady expert hands.

Once upon a time, life was really good and kind.

And he was a truly happy man at that time.

His big goofy dog had decided it was time to stop chewing underwear, shoes, and socks.

His once barren front lawn had magically become a small cozy rose garden, and there now stood a newly built one-door garage in the back yard.

He received yet another handsome pay raise.

He bought a sleek new car.

And he was just about to marry his precious Cupcake.

The wedding was carefully planned.

The guest list was already finalized.

The five tier wedding cake was going to be made by the most famous bakery in New Jersey.

Every morning he looked into the mirror and smiled genuinely at himself before saying a silent prayer to thank God for granting all his wishes.

And then all of a sudden, it all went wrong.

****

****


	4. Nacht 4: Hell Is A Place On Earth

**Nacht 4: **Hell**  Is A  **Place On Earth****

The ambulance rushes to the hospital right away.

And once again, Joe Morelli curses his fate.

13 days before their wedding, Stephanie went missing.

She was scheduled to move in with her husband-to-be the next day.

Everything inside her apartment was intact and in its place, with the exception of her cookie jar.

Her cell phone was on the kitchen counter, right beside the now unoccupied shabby glass aquarium.

Yes, poor old Rex died in the middle of a cold raining windy winter night almost one year ago.

Stephanie's crappy car was later found by the side of a deserted road.

Her empty shoulder bag was placed in the passenger seat.

There was no blood or any trace of fighting or suspicious fingerprints.

No one in the neighborhood had seen Stephanie or noticed anything unusual.

Just like that, Joe Morelli's future bride vanished out of thin air as if she had never existed.

And he fell from Heaven straight to Hell.


	5. Nacht 5: I'm the One to Blame

Nacht 5: I'm the One to Blame

Joe Morelli needs emergency surgery to stop the bleeding.

He lies on the surgery table and briefly wonders where Stephanie is before sinking into a cold, horribly lonely anesthesia-induced dream.

It didn't take long for the look of sympathy in people's eyes to morph into doubts and unspoken questions.

And he finally snapped and lost it the day his own mother looked straight into his eye and quietly asked, "What did you do to Stephanie?"

He slammed the knife in his shaking hand onto the table and barged out of the door.

He never returns to the house in which he grew up.

He tried to lose himself in work but failed miserably.

Every night he came back to his lonely empty house and broke his heart.

So one day he gave his pet to one of his drinking buddies.

He knew his friend's wife and kids would take good care of the big orange dog and love it dearly.

And he would no longer take a look at Bob and immediately think of Stephanie and end up crying himself to sleep.


	6. Nacht 6: Turn Around, Bright Eyes

**Nacht 6: Turn Around, Bright Eyes**

Something died inside Stephanie the day Ranger moved to Miami.

She sat in her cold lonely shabby apartment until merciless darkness swallowed the last feeble ray of sunlight.

She could not move.

She could not cry.

She could not feel anything.

She wanted to scream out all her agony.

She wanted to shrill "Why me?" just like her mother always did.

She wanted to kill herself but alas there was no bullet in her Smith & Wesson .38.

She had no idea how she could have been so foolish.

She had chased away the man who was finally ready for a serious relationship.


	7. Nacht 7: Yet Another Fuck Up Life?

**Nacht 7: Yet Another Fuck Up Life?**

Stephanie came back to her apartment that day after spending another night with Ranger.

And then late that night she had sex with Joe.

Joe was snoring with a happy contented smile on his movie star handsome face when Stephanie slid out of her queen size bed to have a drink of water.

One large pizza box and eight empty beer cans, the debris of their all-time favorite pre-sex dinner, scattered around in her living room.

And Ranger was sitting in her one good chair, looking cool and composed as ever.

There was no anger or disappointment in his calm dark brown eyes.

No jealousy, pain or sorrow either, to her surprise.

Ranger had just told Stephanie, not 24 hours ago, that he loved her and asked her to start a relationship with him.

Stephanie had thrown herself into his arms and said yes.

And this morning she had told him over breakfast that tonight she would end things with Joe.

But, somehow, the heavenly fragrance of Pino's pizza and Joe's familiar melted-chocolate eyes had dissolved her resolution like fire melted ice.

Stephanie stood frozen in shame and fear.

She suddenly remembered that Ranger didn't share.

Ranger got up from the chair and came over to look straight into her teary eyes.

"Stay with Morelli if you can't stop loving him." was the last thing Ranger said before he quietly walked out of Stephanie's apartment and her life.


	8. Nacht 8: With Or Without You

**Nacht 8: With Or Without You**

What was this thing Stephanie Plum had for Joe Morelli exactly?

A lingering childhood crush?

A twisted kind of adult friendship?

Some sort of unhealthy addiction?

Nothing more than a plain stupid old bad habit?

Or was it love actually?

Surely true love was the only thing powerful enough to make two people all wrong for each other keep fighting and fucking like wild bunnies, right?

**RIGHT?**

However, at this moment, nobody really cared about the answer to this one million-dollar question.

Morelli was never interested in trifle and insignificant things like this.

The fact that Stephanie always came back to him no matter what was all that ever mattered to him.

Stephanie once again took the easiest and most painless solution.

She shut down her brain and stopped thinking.

And Ranger was beyond caring.


	9. Nacht 9: Everything I Long to Do

**Nacht 9: Everything I Long to Do**

_Ten days after Ranger moved to Miami, Stephanie bit into Pino's meatball sub and found a diamond ring. Without thinking, she agreed to marry Joe._

At the beginning, life was really nice and easy for an empty soulless shell.

She smiled her pleasant smile.

She drifted along the current of time.

She got tossed into dumpsters and kept on blowing up cars.

She got chased by dogs, rats, bees and crazy skips.

She ate, she drank, and then slept.

She would not admit but she never ever stopped dreaming of him.

One cold raining windy winter night, she startled awake and her heart cringed in fear.

She half crawled, half rolled out of the lonely queen size bed in sheer panic.

She stumbled into her small dark kitchen and found that poor old Rex had died in his sleep.

She crumbled to the cold hard floor and wept.

She had never ever felt so lonely.

And the next night, her nightmares began.


	10. Nacht 10: Moonlight Shadow

**Nacht 10: **Moonlight Shadow****

In the dead of the night Stephanie Plum screamed herself awake.

She curled into a small ball and started shaking like a lonely, terrified, abandoned cat.

She knew all about faking pleasant smile but couldn't stop her burning tears.

Edward Scrog's crazy laughter still rang in her ears.

She had just shot Ranger through his heart and watched him die on her carpet in her first nightmare.


	11. Nacht 11: Gone are the Days

**Nacht 11: Gone are the Days**

The emergency surgery is finally over.

The doctors have successfully stopped the bleeding.

The patient is now in critical but not life-threatening condition.

Both Joyce Barnhardt and Terry Gilman remain in police custody.

Neither of the two women are talking.

Various kinds of rumours and vicious whispers spread through the city.

Angie Morelli faints and collapses on the waiting room floor.

The doctors have done whatever they can.

But still Joe Morelli has lost a part of his "Bob" and one of his "boys".

And Stephanie is still missing.


	12. Nacht 12: I Dreamed A Dream

****Nacht 12: **I Dreamed A Dream**** **

_Stephanie Plum slowly walked down the aisle._

_Her satin wedding dress was snowy white and flawless._

_The quests politely applauded._

_The man she had chosen bent his head to kiss her._

_There came a crack of thunder above the church._

_A flash of lightning penetrated the stained glass windows and hit her._

_Stephanie dropped to the ground and died on the spot and_  screamed herself awake.

The scorching pain was too real to be ignored.

She sat in her cold lonely queen size bed shaking all night till dawn.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't feel.

She couldn't cry.

All she wanted to know was why she did not dream of Ranger.


	13. Nacht 13: Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)

**Nacht 13: **Wishing (If I Had A**  Photograph Of You)**

Every night Stephanie Plum screamed herself awake and until dawn sat shaking in her cold lonely bed.

She lost her interest in shopping, chatting and gossiping.

She lost both her fake smile and her appetite.

She rarely talked to her friends and family or her...fiancé.

She flinched and shivered whenever he came near.

She then ignored his sad brown eyes and hurriedly stumbled away.

She couldn't allow herself be kissed or touched by him.

And she hadn't slept with him ever since her first nightmare.

Every night in her dream she stood all alone in her wedding dress and then died in hundreds different horrible ways.

She forgot when she had stopped asking why she had not dream of the man she loved.

She mourned the night when she had so carelessly cast him away.

13 days before her wedding, she shocked herself awake.

She couldn't stop the soul-tearing pain and scorching tears.

Suddenly and finally it became all too much to bear.

She'd just dreamed of Ranger and his new blonde Babe.

Shortly before dawn she got out of bed.

She went into her shabby kitchen for the gun in her cookie jar.

She knew she had one bullet left.


	14. Nacht 14: When Your Heart's Not Open

**Nacht 14: When Your Heart's Not Open**

13 days before his dream wedding, Joseph Morelli lay awake listening to the sound of his heart bleeding.

He had long forgotten when he'd chosen to become the King of Denial.

Everyday he woke up and kept on ignoring the fact that his happy life was but a big fat lie.

He nodded, chatted, ate and drank.

He interacted with the world around him with an unfaltering charming smile.

The agony he felt deep down inside was not real.

There was no pain or hurt dwelling in the blue eyes he loved so much.

And she never once flinched or shivered or staggered away from him.

It would be alright in the end, time after time he told himself.

She was just being nervous.

It had nothing to do with Ranger.

They would be happily together ever after.

Love would conquer anything.

Anything.

Anything.

Joseph Morelli closed his sad brown eyes and once again ran away from reality.

He was fast asleep when Stephanie pulled the trigger and the lonely gunshot sounded...


	15. Nacht 15: I Dream That Love Will Never Die

**Nacht 15: I Dream That Love Will Never Die**

Stephanie Plum sat on the kitchen floor with both her cookie jar and gun in her lap and her back against the hard cold wall.

With unseeing teary eyes she stared into the unyielding darkness and thought of all her broken dreams and hopes.

If only she could blame her mess of a life on someone else.

If only she could point her gun at Morelli and just fired.

If only his death could put her out of her misery.

She let out a raspy bark of shaky laughter.

The dawn was coming.

Her heart was shattered.

And her soul was lost.

She raised her gun with unsteady hand.

She pointed it at her own head.

"I'm so sorry, Carlos."

She closed her eyes and then whispered.

The pitiful farewell to the only man she ever really loved.

Her index finger curved around the trigger.

A pair of hands darted out of nowhere and pulled the nose of the gun away from her head.

Her heart stopped in her chest.

The bullet shot into the opposite wall.

She knew these hands.

Large.

Firm.

Warm.

Familiar.

Mocha Latte hands.


	16. Nacht 16: When Doves Cry

**Nacht 16: When Doves Cry**

At twelve sharp Stephanie's door opened and in Morelli came.

The smell of hot cheezy pizza with extra garlic washed away the last trace of a subtle, lingering scent.

A surprise lunch date might cheer his Cupcake up when she returned, he thought with a most charming smile firmly in place.

The six-pack beer dropped like a bomb onto her bare kitchen floor.

The universe snapped, cracked and shattered.

Millions of tiny debris of lost hopes, desires, longings and love shot right through him.

On the counter beside the empty aquarium side by side lay her cell phone, his keys, and a discarded diamond ring.

Her porcelain cookie jar was nowhere to be seen.

He held on tight to Pino's pizza box like it was the last ray of light he saw before he died.

His unfeeling heart sank into a bottomless abyss.

All was left was the ghost of his broken dream.


	17. Nacht 17: Sweet Little Lies

**Nacht 17: Sweet Little Lies**

Joe Morelli pocketed the abandoned engagement ring.

Numbly he sat on her couch till evening fell upon the black hole he'd once called the center of his universe.

Silently he picked up the remains of his broken heart and left for the Plum residence.

So much for wanting a dog, a house, and six cute kids.

So much for longing for a life that would make the both of you smile.

So much for giving her space to clear her mind.

So much for waiting for time to melt her heart.

So much for praying to God that she would forget Ranger and love you back.

So much for believing Fate for once would be kind.

He stopped at a red light and swallowed his tears.

He should have had let go and let her fly.

This time, he knew, she would not come back.


	18. Nacht 18: The Truth Is Never Far Behind...

**Nacht 18: The Truth Is Never Far Behind...**

He tried.

He tried.

He really tried.

But tried as he might, Joe Morelli couldn't escape the web of lies.

Speculations engulfed the Burg like California wildfire.

He was pinned through his heart like a dead butterfly.

"What did you do to Stephanie?" An angry Frank Plum had yelled at him as Helen Plum had collapsed and fainted.

"What did you do to Stephanie?" A teary Lula had barged into the police station and screamed at him.

"What did you do to Stephanie?" his own mother had looked straight into his eyes and calmly asked him.

 _What did you do to Stephanie?_  Wherever he went, he couldn't avoid those doubting eyes.

 _What did you do to Stephanie?_  Whatever he did, he couldn't stop those accusing glares.

 _What did you do to Stephanie?_  Every time he unlocked his front door, the silent empty house whispered in his ears.

The night he gave Bob away, the lifeless face of the woman he loved came to his dream and mouthed the question.

_Joseph, what did you do to me?_

Guilt and regret swallowed him.

And just like that, he woke up, and broke apart.


	19. Nacht 19: Nothing To Win And Nothing Left To Lose

Nacht 19: Nothing To Win And Nothing Left To Lose

Tequila.

White.

Whisky.

Slim.

And beer.

Leggy.

Love.

Crazy curls.

Hurt.

Blue eyes.

And hate.

Brunette.

He soon learned to take refuge in random sex.


	20. Nacht 20: Circle In The Sand

**Nacht 20: Circle In The Sand**

The unleashed beast prowled the streets in all nearby cities.

It searched through the darkest corners for preys that fit its need.

Immensely it enjoyed the gasps, the moans, and the blood and screams.

Until one dawn it woke up beside a cold stiff body.

White, slim, light brown curls and dead blue eyes.

And under the pale morning light, she looked nothing like Stephanie.


	21. Nacht 21: The Waste Land

**Nacht 21: The Waste Land**

To serve, to protect, to investigate and fight.

To fabricate, to manufacture, to destroy or hide.

He knew all the tricks to get the job done.

He knew just the right place where evidence and dead bodies could be so hard to find.

He drove home and took a long hot shower.

He ordered his pizza and ate in silence.

He was not a monster, really.

He'd never meant to hurt nobody, he swore.

He'd just been so drunk and so lonely.

He'd just wanted someone to hold him.

He'd just wanted to stop her from leaving.

He'd just wanted to ask her why she couldn't love him.

Like a robot he bit, chewed and swallowed.

He pretended he'd forgotten how frightened those unfamiliar blue eyes had been.

He pretended he'd forgotten how fragile her slender neck had been.

He pretended he'd forgotten how thrilled and excited the savage animal inside him had been.

He pretended he'd forgotten how much he'd wanted her to be Stephanie.

Like a robot he bit, chewed and swallowed.

No, he really was not a monster, please trust him.

Please...


	22. Nacht 22: If Every Man Says All He Can, If Every Man Is True

**Nacht 22: If Every Man Says All He Can, If Every Man Is True**

Shame, surprise, guilt, and fear.

She broke apart the instant she looked into the midnight dark eyes she loved and missed so much.

Without a word he wrapped the weeping shell of a woman in his arms.

And took her back.


	23. Nacht 23: Only Time

**Nacht 23: Only Time**

Everywhere they go, whatever they do, like a timid shadow she clings to him.

Everyday she eats a little more, sleep a little more, talks and then smiles a little more.

Under the tropical sunlight piece by piece he puts her back together.

Beneath the whispering moonlight again she learns to dream, to live, and to love.

Every now and then with trembling hands she picks up the phone, tries to dial the number and fails.

Someday, someday she will be ready and able to place that needed call.

And face whatever and whomever she left behind without a second thought


	24. Nacht 24: Color Me Your Color, Darling, I Know Who You Are

****Nacht 24** : Color Me Your Color, Darling, I Know Who You Are**

Slim, curvy, sexy and blonde.

She was what a lot of men dreamed to find.

Savvy, shrewd, sophisticated and cool.

They balked when learned about her background.

Lonely, ambitious, wistful and strong.

She smiled as she spotted his face in the loud, happy crowd.

5 o'clock shadow and soulful eyes.

She wished she could once again see him laugh.

One glass of Blue Hawaii.

Two Tequila Sunrises.

She then became his Cupcake.

And Valentine.


	25. Nacht 25: She Was His For A Price

****Nacht 25** : She Was His For A Price**

Sultry eyes.

Sultry smile.

She made them desperate for a taste of fire.

Diamond rings.

Houses and cars.

She walked away from her EXs with lots of prizes.

This night he met her in the corner of the dark crowded bar, all happy, all drunk, and handsome.

And something, something struck her soft lonely heart...


	26. Nacht 26: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?

**Nacht 26: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?**

One by one, night by night, the lonely beast built up his Cupcakes rack.

Most were just for one time, like Plain Vanilla.

Some lasted three or five nights, like Milky Way.

A couple few made him smile and go back time after time.

His Lemon Mascarpone.

And his Red Velvet.

Every night he slept in a different bed.

Every dawn he woke up to float through yet another empty day.

And deep down inside the black pit where a beating heart had once lived, he still thought of his Cupcake.

His one and very only but long gone Cupcake.


	27. Nacht 27: It's A Right I Defend, Over And Over Again

**Nacht 27: It's A Right I Defend, Over And Over Again**

Everything was fluffy and light for the two of them, at first.

But call it a woman's instinct, or suspicion, they soon sensed each other's existence.

A faint trace of No.5.

A silent whisper of Poison.

One single different color hair.

And his old history as a famed womanizer.

And it never took long for love to produce jealousy, anger, and a desire to hurt.


	28. Nacht 28: Every Man Is A Lonely Island

**Nacht 28: **Every Man Is A Lonely Island****

Joe Morelli was aware of what was going on.

And like most men, he'd love to see some good cat fight.

Which one should he favor? He placed the forsaken ring in his palm and asked himself.

Terry the spicy blonde?

Or Joyce the wild red-haired?

And was this what it felt like to be Stephanie Plum?

To have two people to fight for you, to have two people to toy with, to have two people to choose from?

The blinking diamond kept its silence.

The ring of 18K gold gave him no answer.

So he let out a sharp bark of laughter and emptied the bottle of fiery liquid.

Oh yes, he was going to have some really great fun.


	29. Nacht 29: Web of Lies

**Nacht 29: Web of Lies**

He took Joyce to Terry's place on night when "Blondie" was out of town and had some serious fun there inside the huge walk-in closet.

With his most sincere melted chocolate eyes and genuine smile, he promised Joyce she was his One and Only.

He then laughed himself silly and almost choked on his beer when he sat all alone inside his once cozy lovely house hours and hours later.

 _God,_  he stopped coughing and shook his head in delight as he thought about the shy look of surprise on Joyce's too white face.

 _Women are easy._ He grinned.

_So, so easy._


	30. Nacht 30: Bad Romance

****Nacht 30: **Bad Romance**** **

Terry Gilman froze, sniffed the air again, and again, and broke her heart.

She knew she had been cheated, and betrayed.

Yes, she knew they had been here.

She could recognize Joe's cheap cologne everywhere.

She then gagged and threw up on her expensive Persian carpet as the last lingering trace of Barnhardt's Poison choked her throat.

She spent the whole night sitting on the cold tiles inside her bathroom till daybreak.

She then took a long hot soothing bath.

And swore revenge.


	31. Nacht 31: All Your Love Is Revenge

**Nacht 31: All Your Love Is Revenge**

Seductively she stripped herself down to her black silk France-made lingerie.

She shook her blonde hair loose.

She pressed a scarlet-lipped kiss on his lips.

She placed a blood-red rose on his hairy eagle tattoo.

She chained his limbs spread-eagle style.

She blindfolded him with a silk scarf.

She looked at the naked man on Joyce Barnhardt's waterbed and smiled.

And took out her knife.

Morelli was not the only one who knew how to lie.

And it hadn't taken Terry long to make him grant her a Valentine's Day Surprise...


	32. Nacht 32: Be My Bloody Valentine

**Nacht 32: Be My Bloody Valentine**

Joyce's sorrowful, scarred heart soared up into the sky as her eyes fell upon her movie star handsome boyfriend's old green Ford.

She was home one day early.

Joe had talked her into paying a visit to her mother, the only family she had left and whom she hadn't seen for years.

She really wanted to thank him for being so thoughtful even if the mother and daughter gathering had turned into yet another fiasco.

And she knew just the perfect Valentine's Day present to give her sweet, fun man.

She entered the house she'd gotten from one of her ex-husbands and started stripping herself.

She was in her crimson Victoria's Secret inside her kitchen looking for the bottle of Spain imported extra virgin olive oil when his scream sounded.

Without thinking she pulled a knife from the knife stand and charged like a war horse.

And froze right in front of her bedroom door when Terry Gilman's joyful laughter reached her ears.

"Ah, my dearest Joseph," the shameless Blondie purred. "you've just made me the happiest woman in the whole universe."

Joyce never heard the shrill sound of her heart shattering.

She just growled like a demented deadly beast.

And barged inside her contaminated sacred domain...


	33. Nacht 33: O My Luve's Like A Red, Red Rose

****Nacht 33: **O My**  Luve's L **ike A Red** , R **ed Rose**** **

Joyce slammed into Terry like a human cannonball.

The two of them hissed and snarled and rolled around on the bloody waterbed like a pair of tangled snakes.

They then fought on and forgot the world around.

They saw and smelled and sensed and hated only each other.

One knife slashed and stabbed.

The other knife stabbed and slashed.

And somehow amid the chaos, Joe Morelli lost of his "boy".

A little more than one third of his "Bob" soon followed.

The two fierce shrieking warriors, however, paid the screaming man no attention at all.

Now they just wanted to kill each other.


	34. Nacht 34: Nevermore

****Nacht 34: **Nevermore**** **

Joe Morelli lies awake in his hospital bed wondering where Stephanie Plum is.

Is she alright now?

Is she smiling now?

Is all the hurt inside her beautiful blue eyes gone?

Is she happy now?

Is she with Ranger now?

Will they spend the rest of their life together?

Will they have a fairy-tale-like Happily Ever After?

Will she ever think of him again?

Will she ever feel sorry for leaving him like this?

Why can't he have her love?

Why is the Burg Dream not enough?

What have he done wrong?

He sighs and mourns the loss of his love.

He knows his life will never be the same.

He knows his body will never be the same.

He has let both Terry and Joyce off the hook by keeping saying "I don't remember".

He knows that's the least he can do.

He wishes one day they will find it in their hearts to forgive him...

He suddenly becomes uneasy.

He fingers the rosary his Grandma gave him and once again starts praying.

He knows she is there.

White, slim, light brown curls.

Dead, rotten, empty eyes.

The pale silent shadow by the end of his bed.

He tries hard but still can't remember her name.

It was but yet another one night stand.

But somehow this blue-eyed girl ended up being choked to death.

He got rid of her limp cold body and erased all the evidences.

But still she found him the next night when he closed his eyes.

And she never leaves him no matter where he sleeps.

He sees her when he's sober.

He sees her when he's drunk.

He sees her when he's flirting.

He sees her when he's fucking.

She's everywhere.

Everywhere.

Everywhere.

He lets out a sob and keeps on praying.

He wishes her to go away.

He needs her to go away.

But she just won't go away.

Won't go away...

**~The End~**

**Stay Tuned**

**We'll Be Right Back...**


	35. ~Alternate Ending~

**~ **Alternate**  Ending~**

**Night 14: You're Frozen When Your Heart's Not Open**

13 days before his dream wedding, Joe Morelli lay awake listening to the sound of his heart bleeding. He had long forgotten when he'd chosen to become the King of Denial. Everyday he woke up and kept on ignoring the fact that his happy life was but a big fat lie. He nodded, chatted, ate and drank. He interacted with the world around him with an unfaltering charming smile. No, the agony he felt deep down inside was not real. No, there was absolutely no pain or hurt dwelling in the blue eyes he loved so much. And, no, Stephanie never ever once flinched or shivered or staggered away from him. It would be alright in the end, time after time he told himself. She was just being nervous. It had nothing whatsoever to do with Ranger. Stephanie and he would be happily together ever after. Love would conquer anything. Anything. Anything...

Joe Morelli closed his sad brown eyes and once again tried to run away from the painful, cruel reality. But something deep down in the pit of his stomach made him open his eyes, jump out of bed and get dressed. Something was off. He didn't know why, but he could feel it. He had to go to Stephanie right now before everything was too late. He ran down the stairs, got in his car, and drove as fast as he could to her apartment, and was barely in time to pulled the nose of the gun away from Stephanie head when she pulled the trigger. He was just about to recover from his shock and ask her what was wrong when Stephanie turned to stare at him with burning hatred, and started shouting hurtful crazy words.

She wanted him to leave her alone. She demanded him to go to Hell. She blamed him for her broken heart. She told him how much she wanted to erase the history between them. She cursed him for shattering her dreams and hopes. She cried in front of his eyes for her lost chance for a happy future with Ranger. And he finally heard something inside him snap as she pulled the ring off her finger and tried to throw it at his face. And the next thing Joe Morelli remembered was staring straight into Stephanie Plum's lifeless eyes with his hands around her broken neck. He had killed her. His Cupcake. The woman he loved and planned to marry in 13 days.

He released his hands quickly. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He felt her pulse. He felt her breath. He stared at Stephanie's dead body. And he suddenly felt relieved that all her neighbors were really old folks who never heard or saw anything. He got rid of Stephanie Plum's limp bead body, took care of all the evidences, lived on with his life, and pretended nothing had ever happened. He was a well-trained highly-praised police detective. He was good at acting. He had no intention to sacrifice his life for a woman who had never really loved him. But still, the empty hole within his heart grew bigger and bigger no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. And no matter how hard he prayed, Stephanie's dead staring eyes still followed him everywhere.

Day after day, night after night, he told himself that she wasn't real. It was all his brain. He tried to drink himself numb. He tried to lose himself in sex. But she was there when he opened his eyes in some cheap motel. She was there when he got out of some random chick's bed. He never stopped trying to get rid of her. He prayed. He turned his eyes away. He pretended she wasn't there. And one night when he smiled down at the moaning girl beneath him, he saw her face. He tried to choke her to death, again, and woke up the next day beside another cold dead body. The girl looked nothing like her in brisk daylight, and she joined Stephanie the next night at the end of his bed.

No, he told himself firmly, it wasn't real. There was no ghost. He was being hallucinating. He was just feeling guilty. He just needed some comforting. He just needed some passionate kisses. He just needed more good old climaxes. Nothing more. Nothing more. So he drank his beer, chewed his pizza, and kept on toying with Terry and Joyce. Until that night, when the knives cut through his body and all of a sudden he heard Stephanie giggling. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was, he needed to tell her how sorry he was, but he knew it was too late. Too late.

Too late.

**~The End~**

**Stay Tuned,**

**Babe,**

**We'll Be Right Back...**


	36. ~Alternate Ending 2~

**~ **Alternate**  Ending 2~**

**Night 15: Breaking Dawn**

Stephanie Plum drops off her bed with a thump to the floor and scares herself awake. She is soaked in cold sweat, and can't stop shaking. For a moment she doesn't know where she is, and is about to go into panic mode when she realizes she's inside her small bedroom. It is early afternoon. The sun is bright. The wind is soft. She can hear one of her neighbor's TV. And somewhere inside the building, a phone just stops ringing. She clutches her thin blanket to her chest and curls into a small ball. She doesn't have enough strength to climb back onto her bed. Her heart is widely pounding in her ears. Hot tears are falling down her cheeks. She just had the most horrible nightmare of her life, and she feels like her whole being is torn apart and shattered. She wants to scream out her fear. She wants to puke out her disgust. But she just can't move. Not even a finger. She stays on the floor and closes her tearful eyes, and finally calms down by breathing deeply and slowly. Like Ranger once taught her.

Ranger. Stephanie opens her eyes as she thinks of him, and struggles to stand up. The dream was trying to tell her something. And now she understand the message. With a trembling hand she fishes her keys out of her fake Chanel shoulder bag, staggers out of her apartment door and heads downstairs to the parking lot. She gets in her faded red Volkswagen, and drives forward with only one clear thought in her mind. Minutes later, she pulls into the underground garage and tumbles out of her crappy car, and immediately throws herself into Ranger as he and several of his men step out of the stairwell and walk toward her.

"I love you." Stephanie wraps her arms tightly around an ever so slightly stunned Ranger, not unlike Sid the Sloth clinging to one of Manny's tusks, and not aware of the existence of the world around her and the Man of Mystery. "Don't leave me. Please don't leave me." Again and again she repeats her pleading as if praying. She knows it was but a dream, a worst nightmare, but somehow she simply can't bare the thought of her betraying Ranger's love and trust and crawling back to Morelli. For a freaking pizza and half a dozen beer. She feels ashamed of herself for being a selfish, brainless bitch. She feels enraged at her sick and screwed-up relationship. She feels frightened and unsure of Ranger's reaction. And she feels happy and totally relieved when two muscular Mocha Latte arms tighten around her and the familiar warm, perfect lips find hers without difficulty after gently whispering in her ear, "I love you too, babe".

**~The End~**


End file.
